It's an interesting question, more so to discuss than poll I think.
I think the basically actions you can take in a sport at any time kind of determine this, as well as the possibilities you have. This makes I think Basketball just about the hardest sport I think for videogames (despite that, they have done a great job with the 2K games I think). There are so many things you can do in basketball and different aspects to the game. I play a lot myself and over time you just see how many different styles of play you can have, moves you can use, and different things.
As good as the NBA 2K games are, they still reinvent ball handling to an extent year to year. You don't see that in other sports game genres as much. It's because ball handling is a crazy thing to try to represent. In 2K, you are still learning how to manipulate the animations and not fully in control. Another aspect is still the AI, which, in this huge possibility space basketball represents in the modern day, still can be robotic.
I think the best sports, with this reasoning, are Football/Soccer and American Football. Both have games that can really I think capture all the aspects of the game well enough and at this point are filling in the gaps with AI and extra bits of control and things. Not that they are perfect, but I feel like they translate and are captured pretty well, especially with recent Maddens having better blocking.
I think Racing is done really well. I think Wrestling not only has it incredibly hard as a "sport". The basic action is hard enough to capture (I don't think anyone has done grappling or submissions in that an interesting way ever just about) but then you have it's status as sports entertainment and the company still having this weird space where the game is still a simulation of some sort. Not that it shouldn't be in a lot of ways, but it isn't about putting on a show.
There are a lot of ways to think about this though.
@sethmode said:
I don't know much about racing, but as a player of the 4 traditional American sports, I think baseball lends the most the video games. The most important skill at a fundamental level is hand/eye coordination, after all, and all strengths and sizes are possible because of this. Hell, you don't really need speed or endurance or anything for the majority of positions. Everything else has to compensate greatly for the tremendous gulf in physical ability between what it takes to play those sports at a professional level.
this post is an interesting one. Some other sports have a similar way you could argue for them though. At some point it is hard to describe anything where you press a button to do some dramatic physical movement that accurate. With some sports, where the movements are so fine and precise like you are getting at, it seems even sillier if you think about it.
To your point, I think Golf is probably an even better example because some of those guys can be a mess physically. There are your Bartolo Colon's in baseball though of course.
Log in to comment